Samuel Justin Spiegel

Biography

Samuel Justin Spiegel, M.D., is Assistant Clinical Professor in the Gavin Herbert Eye Institute at the University of California, Irvine, where he specializes in neuro-ophthalmology. He completed his neuro-ophthalmology fellowship at the Jules Stein Institute and Doheny Eye Institute joint program at UCLA, following a neurology residency at Stanford University Hospital, where he served as Chief Resident. Spiegel received his Doctor of Medicine from Thomas Jefferson (Sidney Kimmel) Medical College, graduating with distinction in the top 5 of his class. He is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

Spiegel serves as Co-Director of the UCI Neuroinflammatory Multidisciplinary Clinic, which he initiated to provide care for patients with neuroinflammatory conditions affecting optic nerves and vision, including enrollment in clinical trials for NMOSD and MOGAD. He is Course Director for the Headache session at the American Academy of Ophthalmology Annual Conference and serves on the NANOS Abstract Selection Committee. His clinical and research interests focus on optic neuropathies, neuroinflammatory disorders, and neuro-ophthalmic emergencies. He has published research on topics including Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy, pediatric optic pathway gliomas, and neuro-ophthalmic emergencies, and serves as a reviewer for the Journal of Neuro-Ophthalmology and the American Journal of Ophthalmology Case Reports.

Spiegel is a member of the North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society, the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the American Academy of Neurology, and the International Ocular Inflammation Society. He serves on multiple committees at UCI, including the Ophthalmology Residency Clinical Competency Committee and the Neurology Education Committee. He was inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society as a junior medical student and is currently Executive Board Vice President of the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society. Spiegel serves as a preceptor for the neuro-ophthalmology fellowship program and has received the Excellence in Teaching Award from the UCI Gavin Herbert Eye Institute.

Education

• B.S. in Neuroscience, University of California, Los Angeles, 2012
• M.D., Thomas Jefferson (Sidney Kimmel) Medical College, 2017

Distinctions

• Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society, 2015
• Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society, 2012
• Golden Humanism Honor Society, 2015
• APC National Pathology Honor Society, 2014
• George McClellan Surgery Honor Society, 2015
• Hobart Amory Hare Honor Society, 2015
• Outstanding Poster Presentation, Neuroscience Research Symposium, UCLA, 2012
• Excellence in Teaching Award, UCI Gavin Herbert Eye Institute, 2024
• Dungelson Physiology Award, Thomas Jefferson University, 2014
• Academic Achievement in Molecular and Cellular Basis of Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University, 2014